BAY CITY, MI — After half a day spent in jury selection, a Bay City man accused of forcing a woman to smoke crack cocaine and then raping her decided to accept a plea deal instead of proceeding with his trial.

About 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, William P. Reehl appeared before Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran and pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance less than 25 grams, with a habitual offender, fourth offense, enhancement. The maximum penalty on the charge is 15 years in prison.

Reehl also pleaded no contest to a one-year misdemeanor count of aggravated assault. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.

In exchange for his pleas, Bay County Assistant Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks agreed to dismiss four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury and single counts of unlawful imprisonment, extortion and assault by strangulation. As a condition of his plea, Reehl will receive a prison sentence, though the duration of that has not been stipulated, Brooks said.

Reehl was free on bond Tuesday morning, but Sheeran remanded him to the Bay County Jail pending sentencing.

Jury selection in Reehl’s trial began Tuesday morning, but a jury was not seated by the time Reehl pleaded. Brooks said he made the offer to Reehl as the victim in the case was having difficulty reliving and describing the incident.

Brooks added that the victim was satisfied with the deal and that Brooks wouldn’t have gone ahead with it otherwise. He also said that he knew the circumstances of the case afforded some difficulty in the prosecution’s proofs.

He said he felt it was a good resolution, as it gets Reehl in prison and prevents the victim from having to testify.

Reehl’s charges stem from a June 5 incident at Paul’s Motel, 1904 S. Euclid Ave. in Monitor Township. The following month, a 34-year-old Bay City woman testified she accompanied Reehl to the motel, intending to smoke crack. Reehl smoked the illegal stimulant and grew aggressive, the woman testified.

The woman, scared by Reehl's antics, tried to leave but Reehl wouldn’t let her and forced her to smoke the crack, she testified. Reehl then raped her over a period of several hours, she testified.

“I asked him to stop repeatedly,” she testified. “I said, ‘Stop, don’t hurt me, I have kids,’ things like that. I tried kicking at him, I tried gouging at him, I tried shoving him off me.”

The woman said she eventually gathered her clothes and ran out of the room. She walked toward her home, stopping for a bit to cry behind a store, she said.

She flagged down a female driver, who gave her a ride home. After Reehl called her house phone, the woman called 911 and an ambulance arrived to transport her to McLaren Bay Region hospital.

“My ribs were bruised and I had bruises all over my body,” she said.

Reehl is represented by Bay City attorney Jeffrey M. Day, who declined to comment on his client’s reasons for accepting the plea offer.